March 24, 2002

LAS VEGAS - UNLV baseball gave up two of three games in the series against Utah this weekend, falling 5-3 to the Utes on Sunday afternoon. The Rebels are 1-5 in Mountain West Conference play, 11-15 overall. The Utes move to 2-4 in league play, 14-12 overall.

Down 5-1 in the bottom of the ninth, the Rebels mounted a comeback attempt that fell short. Brent Johnson hit an RBI double, driving in Ryan Ruiz who reached on an infield single. Eric Nielsen scored Johnson on another infield single. Robert VanKirk followed with a deep fly ball to center field that was caught at the wall by Matt Ciaramella. Tony Schuler flew out right field to end the game.

Johnson's ninth-inning double extended his team-leading hitting streak to 13 games.

Utah's Mitch Maio (4-1) pitched a complete game for the win, giving up just three runs off five hits with 11 strikeouts.

UNLV starter Robbie Van (1-5) took the loss after pitching 7.0 innings and giving up three runs off six hits. Van finished with six strikeouts. David Seccombe and Chad Harris combined to finish the game on the mound.

Nielsen finished the game 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Joe Wickman drove in the Rebels only other run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly, scoring Nielsen.

UNLV travels to Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday for a single game with the Anteaters before returning home for a three-game series with the Lobos of New Mexico. Tuesday's game is set for 7 p.m.